Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Advance Screening for Lumos
Director: David Yates
Writers: J.K. Rowling, J.K. Rowling (textbook)
Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell
We just caught an early screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with JK Rowling and the cast, benefiting her Lumos charity. Eddie Redmayne lead the Q&A, during which Rowling explained the developmental harm being done to children in even the best of orphanages. Lumos works to provide family and community-based care for children in place of institutional care.
The movie itself is a wild ride. There’s so much layering of plot and subplot, that not only do the beasts themselves sometimes seem like a distraction, but it’s easy to see why the Fantastic Beasts series will stretch out over five movies. However, a couple of the beasts do provide some comedy relief, as many of the scenes can be on the darker side. American witches, it turns out, have a taste for death. The theme of abuse and the suppression of potential, also provide with film with darker tones.
The cast is great. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) semi-consistently comes across as awkward and obsessed with his work. But when the situation calls for it, he’s in action adventure mode. Ezra Miller gives one of our favorite performances as Credence, but I won’t give away any spoilers. His relationship with Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is peculiar at first, and quickly escalates.
Before the start of the movie, Rowling told of her love for these characters. I feel we’ve only gotten a glimpse of them, but so far they are likable enough. Queenie, played by Alison Loren Sudol, is probably most likable after Newt.
After the movie, JK Rowling joined members of her Lumos team on stage, to a standing ovation. She thanked the audience for helping to raise money for the charity. Then she asked, “So, did you enjoy the movie? So it was worth it.”
Find out more about Lumos here.